Brother Rick Sunday School 11/18/12

Brother Rick Sunday School 11/18/12

God wants to perform a miracle in your life.  He is doing miracles all the time.  Life is a miracle.  We get caught up in the everyday life: jobs and everything else so that we forget the miracle of life. 

A seed gets planted in the ground, what makes it grow?  The earth rotates on its axis causing the sun to rise in the morning and set in the evening.  It is a miracle.

A miracle is an extraordinary event manifesting the divine.  God wants to get involved in our lives.  He wants to divinely intervene in our lives.  He wants to perform miracles. 

When we have faith and pray and He divinely intervenes, then this brings glory to God.  This is what we want.  We want God to have all the glory and praise.

Mat 19:26  But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Think of all the prayers that God has answered: divine healing…  He has brought us through many situations where we didn’t know how the answer could come.  Yet He brought us through.

There are many things in life that we don’t understand.  How does thinking happen?  How do these things happen:  How do we feel, how do we see, how do we retain information in our memory?  Life is a miracle.  We need to treat it as such and expect miracles. 

We can choose to be strong in faith.  It is really a choice.

We have a whole book showing God intervening in man’s life: being there and helping when man needed and would call on Him.

Exo 14:21  And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

Exo 14:22  And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

Picture the children of Israel against the Red Sea with the whole army of Pharaoh behind them.  Many of them thought, “We’ve had it now.”  But thank God that Moses and others had faith.  Look at how God delivered them.  God wants to make a way for us too.  He is just the same yesterday, today and forever.

We are primarily limited by our own thinking and our own understanding.  God is able to make a way when there is seemingly no way.

Exo 15:23  And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.

Exo 15:24  And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

Exo 15:25  And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,

Exo 15:26  And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

I cannot help but think that tree that he threw into those bitter waters represents the Tree of Life.  It is wonderful how God can take a life that is bitter and with the Tree of Life bring sweetness.  God wants to bring divine intervention into lives.  He wants to help people and to change lives.

Eph 3:20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

Eph 3:21  Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Do you have something in yourself that seems to be a big obstacle in your life?  a memory, a weakness, a past happening that seems to be an obstacle?  God is able to do exceedingly above what we can ask or think.  He wants us to get beyond what is hindering us. 

He wants our faith to grow so that we can pray beyond our weakness for others.  He wants to bless us with His presence.  Think of God Almighty honoring us with His presence!

I want to have more faith so that we can see Him divinely intervene for our needs and for the needs of those around us.  Do you have an enemy in your life that seems fortified and impossible to conquer?  God can conquer it.

Jos 6:16  And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city.

Jos 6:17  And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.

Jos 6:18  And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.

Jos 6:19  But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.

Jos 6:20  So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

The people obeyed what God wanted them to do.  They took the city.  Jericho was a highly fortified city.  The walls were 30 feet tall.  There were two walls, an inner and an outer.  1868, a man, Charles Warren was the first to excavate Jericho.  The walls were made of sundried brick.  They were 12 to 20 feet apart.  The outer wall was 6 feet thick. And the inner wall was thicker.

This was a place that God wanted the Children of Israel to conquer.  They did it God’s way.  On the seventh day as they marched around seven times and then shouted, those huge thick walls fell down.  Cannot He take care of our little problem? 

We have a book full of things that God has done.  We think of a miracle as unattainable, but every time God has answered prayer it has been a miracle.  Look at all God has done. 

We must do all we can to stay clear with God so that our faith is not hindered and we can pray.  We can come to God with offerings and He will answer our prayers and intervene in the little and the large things in our life.  If you have a problem in your life that you cannot see how it can be taken care of, then start studying the bible and see all that God has done.

Jos 10:11  And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.

Jos 10:12  Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.

Jos 10:13  And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

It does not pay to be the enemy of the Lord.  The children of Israel had a battle and God finished it by throwing down huge stones.  Joshua prayed for the sun to stand still so that they could conquer the enemy.  God did this.  He made the sun and the moon stand still.

There is no limit with God.  He wants to conquer our battles.  What can our faith take in?  Are we limited by our own human reasoning?  God help us to have faith so that He can supply all of our needs.  We love to read of those of old and how God answered prayer.  Thank God for all that He has done for us.

Just like He did for Joshua, God will go to any length to help us fight our battles.  He wants to help us.  He will take care of us.  To our human minds: things standing still in the universe so that the sun could shine for an entire day is impossible.  Think of what God can do!

Jdg 14:5  Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.

Jdg 14:6  And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.

We can apply all these things that we read in the Old Testament to our spiritual life.  God can help us conquer the lions in our life today.  We can conquer whatever comes against us through Him.  We need God everyday in our life.

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

1Pe 5:9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

We don’t have to be afraid.  We would be fearful if there was a mountain lion prowling when we are out in the woods.  We don’t have to be afraid of the lions in our life.  We can have total victory.  God wants us living that pure, holy, Christian life.  We can conquer those lions.  God can do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think.

We can conquer that Canaan land.  He wants us to cross that Jordan and get into the land of Canaan, the land of giants.  This is the land that is ours through sanctification.  We can conquer those things that come against us.  We can prove that God is real.

1Sa 12:16  Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the LORD will do before your eyes.

1Sa 12:17  Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.

1Sa 12:18  So Samuel called unto the LORD; and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.

1Sa 12:19  And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the LORD thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king.

God wants us to have enough God on board that it brings conviction and fear to those around us.  I am challenged to live more godly and strong when I am around those that are unsaved.  God wants to bring conviction on those around us. 

It seems that there is not much of the fear of God in the world around us.  Everyone is going their own way.  This makes it easier for those that are lost to just join in.  People need to be afraid of dying without God.  May God help us to live close to Him so that we do bring that conviction on them. 

1Ki 17:8  And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,

 1Ki 17:9  Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.

1Ki 17:10  So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

1Ki 17:11  And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.

1Ki 17:12  And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

1Ki 17:13  And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.

1Ki 17:14  For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.

1Ki 17:15  And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

1Ki 17:16  And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.

It is awesome that God will divinely intervene for the needs in our life.  He wants to take care of us.  I was in bad shape when I got saved.  I had three changes of close and my guitar.  That is it.  I didn’t know what was next for me. 

I had been reading the Bible and God was illuminating it to me.  The scriptures seemed larger than life.  I realized that I needed to repent and turn to God.  I knelt down in my little apartment right by the cook stove.  I repented and told God that I wanted to live for Him all the days of my life.  I didn’t want just a phony religion, I wanted to serve Him.

I didn’t know where my meals would even come from and God provided.  I was in straits for a little period and God always provided. 

God wants to provide for us.  He wants to intervene so that He can have all the glory.  We want to understand that those blessings have come from God.

We are blessed to live in this country.  We have many blessings from God.  He doesn’t want us to forget where these blessings come from.